My Everything
by Ducky Lyn Lost
Summary: The story of a young girl thrust into a world of danger and death by violitions not her own. She must struggle to find her way to save the three worlds, and find herself again along the way.
1. Chapter 1

Hallo.

My name is… Ducky, if you must put a name to me. I have an account on Quizilla, where this story, and its predecessors, originated. Due to excessive censorship on my use of language (so I used _hell_ once, cry a river already) causing me to rate everything Young Adult, which it definitely isn't, I decided to transfer the bulk of it over to this account on here. Feel free to review!

Ducky

_A young girl of the age of fourteen sits in a desk, amidst many others in a classroom. She fidgets in her seat, looking at the clock wistfully. Suddenly, a bell rings, and the girl swings her short brown hair out of her eyes, as she picks up her bag and rushes out. She smiles quietly, her warm brown eyes twinkling in the afternoon sun. Today was the day she'd been waiting for. _

Rushing out towards the edge of a forest just outside the school, she meets up with her group of friends. A boy with shaggy strawberry blonde hair, and light green eyes smiles at her, "Hey Copper, you ready?"

The girl grins, and pulls out a video camera from her pack, "As I'll ever be. Are you guys ready?" She looks around as her friends nod. The blonde boy was a friend she had had for going three years now, when she first moved to North Carolina. His name was Dan, and it had been him who introduced her to her other friends. The chirpy redhead, Nikki; the smiling dark-haired boy, Drake; and her best friend, Beth, whom Copper usually just called Bet.

Copper was an only child in a family that was never very close, but, as she always said, "If they're all you've got, you shouldn't waste your time mourning something that's never been."

Copper Elise Mendel was her full name. Brave souls referred to her as Chem., as she hated science.

Breaking away from our thoughts, let's take a look at the tableau these five friends present before us. Nikki is leaning against Dan, as Bet helps Copper with a tripod that's putting up a struggle. Drake looks on in his quiet way, but the others understand, and don't pressure him to join in.

Finally managing to get the tripod unfolded, Copper squints against the autumn sun, trying to find the perfect angle. After trying out varieties of spots, she digs in the legs of the stand, and gestures for the others to begin.

**BEEP BEEP BE-- SMACK- CRASH!**

Lifting up her head, Mads groans. That was the third alarm clock she had broken this week. _Ugh, doesn't anyone who saves the world every other week deserve a chance to sleep in? _

Grumbling, she climbs out of bed, and stumbles into the shower. Twenty or so odd minutes later, she walks into her living room, where a group of boys are waiting. She walks past them and into a kitchen, ignoring a redhead stuffing his face, as she grabs a Snapple from the fridge. Opening the bottle, she shuffles back out into the living room, where she takes a seat Indian style in the nearest chair. Taking a sip of Her Snapple juice (hehe... Snapple juice...), she looks warily at the group, "I thought I got the month off. You know, since I managed to ward off the Apocalypse and all that."

A boy with slicked back black hair sits himself on the couch next to a tall redheaded boy, and a short black haired angsty guy. Yusuke sighs, "Yeah, yeah. We know. And Koenma's actually holding up to that. Says you earned it. But Kay isn't talking. She demands to see you."

Narrowing her eyes, Mads caps the drink, "I have nothing to say to that traitor."

Yusuke held up his hands in defense, "Yeah, I know. Just thought we'd give it a try. Her trial is next week." Seeing your warning glance, he shifts uncomfortably in his seat, "But that's not really why we came. A package came for you." He nods his head at Kuwabara; you had just walked into the room. Moving quickly, you catch the yellow envelope tossed to you. Looking down at it, you flip it over, seeing the name Madison Fields hastily scrawled across the front. On the back are the words _Just Acquaintances_. Mads frowns as she tears open the package, and turns it over, dumping out its contents. Looking down in her lap, she picks up the necklace that came out. Kurama frowns, and comes over to her, examining it, "It's copper, an unusual metal for jewelry."

Yusuke looks around wildly, "Wait, why is that? Is there something freaky about it? Is it cursed? It's cursed isn't it? That's just great, now we have to deal with a cursed--"

"No, Yusuke," Mads interrupted, her brow furrowed as she examines the necklace, "copper is a high maintenance metal. And if you were it too long, without treating it, it'll turn the skin it comes in continuous contact with green."

A familiar voice is heard as a boy with brown hair and green eyes walks in, "It's chemistry. The chemical structure of copper is used to conduct. It tries to conduct the electrons in you, and something screws up."

Kurama looks up, "Sagome's right."

Mads turns over the necklace, inspecting the back. Without looking up, she nods at the new boy.

Yusuke glares at Sagome, "You're late. So much for you being our expert on cursed objects."  
Sagome rolled his eyes, "I already told you it wasn't cursed."  
"Pfft. Like we trust your judgment."

"Copper," Mads murmurs. The boys look at her oddly. Yusuke coughs, "Uhm, yeah. I think that we already established that."

Mads shook her head, "No. The back. It says Copper. It's inscribed, like a locket. People do that with their names usually."

Kuwabara's brow furrows, "But who would name their kid Copper?"

Mads shrugs, "Who would name their kid Kuwabara?"

Hiei speaks up, "There's a note."  
Looking down, Mads grabs the piece of paper that had drifted to the ground.

Her frown deepening, she reads the contents aloud.

_"Sparks always shine their brightest before they go out.  
J.A._"

"Well that's interesting."

Mads looks up, "Someone's trying to tell us something."

Sagome spoke up, "You know, when I lived in NC, there was a high school whose mascot was the Sparks. But something happened, and they decided to shut down the school, and build a new one somewhere else."

Kuwabara frowned, "NC?"  
"North Carolina. Sagome, why did the school close?" Mads asked.  
"Um, I don't remember. It was supposed to be really hush hush; it had something to do with the forest beside it though."

Mads nods. She looks up at Yusuke, "Tell Koenma that I'm going to have to use his database. I'm going on a scavenger hunt. Also, try to get him to call in Reaper."

Kurama's voice is sharp, "Reaper?"  
Mads sighs "She _is_ the one who tracked down the other elementals, right? I could use her help here."

Yusuke frowns, but nods briskly.

_Well there goes my vacation. _


	2. Chapter 2

_A large man stands over a nekoess, who's crying over an old neko. The man laughs, and raises his club, but a cold voice rings out, "Jeoff. This is my hit."_

The man twists to the left, eying the newcomer. A girl in her mid-teens stands, glaring at him. Her eyes are a mixture of brown and green. Jeoff laughs again, "You, Reaper? You're still too soft." The girl raises her chin defiantly, "I've already proved--" "That you can only kill demons with no attachments. No one to leave behind. Don't worry; I won't let him die alone. His little brat will go with him."

Jeoff raises his club again, and a scythe goes flying through the air, cutting off his wrist. Jeoff cries out, and drops to his knees, clutching his wrist.

Reaper's eyes flash as she glares down at him, "I **said** this is **my** hit."

The old man pleads, "Please, do what you will with me, but do not harm my daughter! You can have all the riches of my kingdom, but please, don't harm my Grimmwilda!"

Reaper turns to the old neko, "Relax old man, your daughter won't be touched."

Jeoff stands up, pulling out a dagger, "You'll be leaving one more to seek revenge. Tempest won't be happy." He lunges for the young neko, who screams, and shrinks away.

Reaper leaps forward, and steps back as Jeoff slumps to the ground. She pulls her scythe out of the back of his neck, and kneels down next to the elderly neko. Examining the blows, she looks up at the quivering girl, "They're fatal. Jeoff may be an idiot, but he can aim."

The old man lifted his head, "Please... promise... not to harm, my Grimm...uhhhhhhhh"

Silently, Reaper closes his eyes, and stands slowly, turning to the neko next to her, "You, kid. Have a name?"

The pink neko's ears shook, "Y-You're not going to kill me?"

Reaper shook her head slowly, and looked down, "No. I think you've lost enough." She looked back up, "Do you have anyone to take care of you?"

The girl wiped her tears away, "Ye-Yes... he, the king, was my father. I guess- I guess the kingdom's mine now."  
Reaper nods briskly, and walks away.

The girl looks down sadly at the body of her father, "I just don't have anyone left..." 

A girl with long black hair leaned up against a wall, her eyes closed. A pink haired neko sits on the ground before her.

"Reaper?"  
"Yeah."  
"Tier called."  
"Eh."  
"He says Mads needs your help."  
"..."  
"So.."  
"Come out with it Grimm."  
"Mads got a package. He said it had a copper necklace in it..."

Reaper's eyes snap open. 

"And... it had something inscribed on the back. The word Copper."

Reaper's eyes narrowed, "Go on."   
"There was a note attached to It."  
"And?"   
"It said _"Sparks always shine their brightest before they go out."_ So...?"

Reaper sighed, opening her eyes, "I wonder whoever would send such an ambiguous clue." 

Grimm blinked, "Uhm, that was sarcasm, right? You do know...?"

"Not precisely. But have an idea." 

"Hiei asked for your help."  
Reaper stares at Grimm, then nods, "Tell them I'll think about it."  
Grimm's lower lip trembles, "You know he asks because he cares for Mads, right?"

Reaper's eyes narrow, "Yes." 

"Tempest sent another messenger."  
Reaper sighed, "Who is it now?"

Grimm frowned, "You won't like it. She wants a youkai, Yukina."

"Tell her no.  
"But..."  
"Tell her I know who the youkai is. And I won't be pleased if I have to kill half of Spirit World to get to her."

"Tempest isn't going to be happy."

"She's never happy."

There is a moment of silence.

"Reaper?"  
"Yeah."   
"Your eyes... are getting lighter."  
"I have as much of a chance of stopping that as I do at stopping the tide."   
"I know."

"Reaper?"  
"What now, Grimm?"  
"Do you think Koenma--"  
"Is an idiot? Yes."  
"No, that's not what I was--"   
"Grimm why don't you just go away?"  
"Because you're all I've got..."

Reaper looks up sharply. The neko looks down at her feet, then back up, just as Reaper nods in acknowledgement.

Reaper stretches, "I have something to clear up."


	3. Chapter 3

_A girl laughed, her hair whipping back in the wind, as she raced to her friends side, as they stood lined up in front of a brick house in a suburban neighborhood._

The group of two boys and three girls stood, looking into a camera sitting on a tripod at the edge of the green lawn on which they posed.

A slight whirring filled the air, as the timer counted down. A bright flash blinded Drake, the dark-haired boy, as Copper pushed him towards the camera, laughingly, "Hey. Take a picture of just us girls, now, will you?" 

Yelping, Dan jumps out of the camera shot, "HEY! I'm not a girl..."

Zooming in on the three laughing girls, Drake laughed his reply, "Hey, man, if Chem says you're a girl, then you're a girl."

Another flash.  
"Dude, you're whipped, and she's not even your girlfriend!"

A picture slid out of the camera.  
Copper raced up next to Drake, and grabbed it, "Aw, it came out looking blue. Stupid lighting."   
Bet smacked Copper's arm lightly, "Chill. I think it makes it look cool."

Dan leaned over Bet's shoulder, "Yeah. We should submit it to the yearbook. Ben Franklin High's own personal Charlie's Angels."

Nikki bopped him over the head, "Puh-lease. We will NOT be the school's signature sex symbols."   
This caused the others to burst out laughing.

Copper looked around at her friends, smiling. But a cloud settled over the moment, as a shudder went through her at the thought of returning to the school where... 

Mads pursed her lips, "What do you mean, Reaper said no?"

Sagome stood impatiently, "I mean, she said no. In fact, her exact word were, 'Deal with your own crap yourselves you pathetic--' And then I hung up."

Yusuke stopped pacing, an amazed look on his face "Wait, Reaper uses the telephone?"

Mads spun around to face him, exasperated, "Well, how the hell did you expect her to reach us? A pigeon?"  
"Well, a hawk trained to eat human flesh would have been more suiting..."

Botan leaned over, silencing the detective by shoving a jelly doughnut in his mouth. Hovering on her oar, Botan's pink eyes narrowed, "Yusuke Urameshi! Koenma is allowing Copper to get involved, but you and the others have more important things to do!"

The prince of Spirit World stalked in, "Yes, Yusuke. This concerns all of you." He glances over as the spirit detectives focus on him, "Except Mads, of course. We've received a tip that there's a hit out on families and friends of the spirit detectives. That's a direct quote."

Mads looked around, "Ah, man, that _can't_ be good."  
Yusuke frowns, "Who'd this hit come from?"  
Mads rolls her eyes, "It's obvious, isn't it? The only person that we know that has access to information like that is--"

Koenma shook his head, "No, it's not her. Reaper's... gone."  
Mads clenched her jaw, "What do you mean 'gone'?"  
"We don't know where she is." 

"But she's the only one with that kind of---" 

"No."  
Mads's eyes settle on Sagome as he steps forward, "Grimm does. She has access to almost everything that Reaper would. Demons can't touch her."

Kuwabara's face twisted in confusion, "Why?"

Sagome's eyes narrowed, "Reaper doesn't really trust anyone. But Grimm's one of the two that come close."

Botan floated over to the psychic on her oar, "And why would that be?"  
"Grimm was the princess of the Eastern Omoi kingdom. Her father became a target a year and a half ago. Reaper was still considerably new to the field, but she got the hit. No one really knows what happened that day, but the king died, Grimm resigned her status to her cousin, and Reaper forbid anyone ever touch the neko."

The room was silent.  
Mads crosses her arms, "You said there was two."   
"There are." "So who?"

Sagome turned away, "Koenma, Copper and I need to go to North Carolina. Botan has some information on it, so we'll need to borrow her too." 

Koenma nodded, and Mads and Botan followed Sagome from the room. "You didn't answer the question."  
"And I'm not going to."  
"Humph. Fine."

They walked (or in Botan's case, floated) into a giant library. Sagome grabbed a laser pointer, and sat in a chair facing a large screen. Mads and Botan followed suit.

The screen flickered to life, "Okay. I went and tracked down your necklace. As much as I could. And interviewed some people in the process, which you'll need to see before we visit the old site of Ben Franklin High."

A picture of a high school flits across the screen, and switches to a front desk receptionist. Mads rolls her eyes, as she listens to a spiel of Sagome being some student reporter.

_The lady looked at Tier, "We're not at liberty to discuss what happened two years ago." Tier made a note in his notebook, "So, something did happen her two years ago?"  
The lady looked startled, "Well, yes, but the surviving student--" Tier's head jerked up quickly, "There was only one surviving student?" _

The secretary stepped back, "Sir, I'm sorry, but I cannot discuss this with you."

"But I need to know what happened, so we can make sure it doesn't happen again."   
The lady turned, gesturing for him to follow her.  
They end in a small conference room, and sit down, "You're some sort of cop, aren't you?" Sagome nods solemnly, "Yes, ma'am, I am. And I need this information."

The lady leans in close, and begins.  
"Two years ago, we had a film club. It was a student group, and its founders were the only active members. There were five of them, promising students. One looked very much like you did."   
Sagome's eyes narrowed.

The lady continued, "Their leader was a spunky girl. Always up in the office for something or the other, but never **really** in trouble. Her name was Copper Mendel. Beautiful black hair, brown eyes. Always wore this strange copper necklace, said her best friend had given it to her. His name was Drake Mays. Dark brown hair, warm green eyes. Much like you, you see which is why you can't speak to any of the students. The only survivor... he's... not as stable as he used to be. His name is Dan Grelys. Strawberry blonde, he used to be. His hair went white after the incident.

"His girlfriend was another of the founders. Bethany Hart. Smart girl."

There was a pause. "But there were five, right?"

"Why, yes. Her name was Nikki Goodwin. Redhead. Almost always fought with Copper." 

"But they were out by the woods, where the old school used to be, filming. No one knows what happened, but the group went missing. The police were called, when Dan stumbled up to the school, raving about a tempest. They found three of the others in a cave, 5 miles into the forest. Two of the girls had been tortured to death. Cuts had been made across their stomachs, and wrists. One had a mark on the back of her neck.

"The only one alive was Copper. She was unconscious, and when she awoke, she wouldn't say a word, just kept staring. Her hair hadn't turned white from shock, though she had more reason that Dan. Where the other two had cuts and gouges, she now had bloody tattoos. The police figured it was marking the areas where the tormentor was going to cut. No one could guess why they hadn't gone through with it, but Copper was there, still alive.

"The poor girl was never the same after it. Even with everything being kept hushed, she isolated herself from others. A month after the accident... she disappeared."

Sagome looked up from his notes, "But what about the other boy?" 

The woman pressed her finger to her cheek nervously, "Him? He was never found. But there was something else. Something Copper had said before she disappeared that had made them decide to move the school away from the woods. That she had known. That someone had stayed in the woods all that time, waiting. That she had had a run-in before."

"Did she say what kind of run-in?" 

"No. It was almost as if... as if she was afraid to say too much. The only other thing she would say was that a tempest was coming. And then the strangest thing happened right before she disappeared."

Sagome's pencil stopped writing, "And what was that?"

"Her eyes... they were different somehow." 

Mads sat on the couch, her brow furrowed as she tried making sense of the situation. Sagome turned towards them, and Mads looked up at him, "Sagome, why don't we know anything about your background before the past two years? And why are you taking such an interest in this? And why do you seem to know more than you let on?"

"I can answer this one."  
A short blonde kitsune stood beside the couch. Sagome groaned, mumbling something about ex-girlfriends. The girl continued, "My Sagome over here (at this Sagome snorts), lost pieces of his memory. He came stumbling into my apartment two years ago, as Tier. Wonder why he looks so much like that missing boy? He probably is that Drake kid. My apartment at the time was only three miles from Ben Franklin High."

Mads turns towards Sagome, eyebrows raised, "Why do I suddenly feel like I'm in some effed up soap opera?"

They were standing outside of a brick house.  
1215 Nelson Lane.

Mads sighed, and ran the doorbell. A woman in her mid-forties answered, holding the door partially closed as she gazed suspiciously at the three teenagers, "What do you want?"

Mads put on a we're-just-innocent-kids smile, and spoke up, "We're here to ask you some questions ma'am. About your daughter."

The woman's eyes swept over the group, fixing on Sagome, and her chin trembled, "No...No..." She stepped back, "I don't have a daughter."

Botan spoke, "But you used to right, Mrs. Mendel?" "NO."

Mads stepped back in shock, causing the woman to tear her eyes away from Sagome, "What?" 

The woman looked around nervously, before gesturing them inside.

They sat at a dining room table. Miss Wrengly, as she explained she had gotten divorced began her story, "I don't have a daughter. Mark, my ex-husband, forced me to disown her after... an incident." Mads nodded slightly, "It's okay ma'am, we already know what happened."

The woman shook her head violently, "No. I don't mean the attack. My Copper, she... she was different afterwards. Never home, and when she was, she barricaded herself in her room."

Miss Wrengly's eyes lock on Sagome's, "Drake... you didn't come back... That's what killed her."

Sagome stood up suddenly, his chair falling to the ground. His response came out in a choked whisper, "What?" 

Miss Wrengly shook her head frantically, "I know it's you! All these years, and I would still never forget your face! She loved you, and you disappeared... Like the others had disappeared. She changed. Her eyes changed with her, you know. They grew cold and distant... they slowly got lighter, and began going from brown... to green."

Sagome shook his head, and disappeared out the front door. Mads clenched her jaw, and turned back to the sobbing woman, promising herself she would question Sagome later, "Miss Wrengly, please, if you have anything left, a picture..."

The woman raised her head, reaching into her pocket, "Only one... I only have one..."

Looking down at the picture in the woman's outstretched hand, Mads and Botan's eyes both widened in recognition. Pulling the necklace out of her pocket, Mads placed it in Miss Wrengly's hand. "This was sent to me. I think it's yours now. Thank you for your help." 

At this, Mads and Botan walked out. Climbing into the car, Mads turned to Sagome sitting in the driver's seat, "You knew didn't you? You were that guy, and you remembered. You had a hunch all along that it was her, didn't you?"

Botan's startled whimper from the back tore Mads away from her accusations. A girl with raven black hair, and dark sunglasses sat next to the pink-haired girl. Reaper leaned forward, "Sagome and I have to go now. But I warn you, elemental. If you insist upon digging further into this, that hit that's gotten Koenma all up in arms may just be filled by the end of the week."

And in a flash of two portals, both demons were gone, leaving Botan and Mads to stare at the now empty space.

"That's not going to stop me from finding out what made you go from Copper Mendel to Reaper..."


	4. Chapter 4

_Bet struggled as she was dragged through the woods.  
It was futile, that she had already realized, but she still had to try. After six men had jumped her and the others, they were pulled into the woods._

She had no idea where the others were, save Copper. She could see one of the black-clothed men struggling to carry the furious girl, who was biting and kicking everything in her reach.

Bet closed her eyes as she stopped struggling, trying to make sense of what was happening. Drake and Dan had been knocked unconscious right away... the men, whoever they are, must have expected them to pose a problem. The boys had been taken in a different direction from the three girls.

Bet couldn't see Nikki, but the ground beneath her had changed from the soft moss covering the forest floor, to a rough, gray, rocky surface.

Chains clinked around, and Bet found herself hanging from iron cuffs on the rocky wall.  
Looking to her left, she saw Copper placed in similar bonds, and the raven haired girl then gagged. Glaring at her captors, Copper wrestled with the chains.

Seeing her best friends turn bright red with the effort, would normally have made Bet laugh, but looking at a scratched table, to which her other friend, Nikki, was chained, sobered her completely.

One of the men pulled his mask off, revealing tanned skin, and violet eyes, a scar running across his cheek.

He locked eyes with Bet, "You three are here to bring about the biggest Tempest the world has ever seen. She expressly requested a girl, age of fourteen, so your other friends will not be joining us.

"I'm afraid you will never see them again."

The man walked over to Nikki, picking up a long needle, dripping ink off of the end.  
He began to use it to slice designs into the girl's skin, speaking over her cries of pain, "You see, we took all three of you because, chances are, and only one of you will live long enough to become the catalyst. You see, I'm a demon."

He looks up and smiles savagely before continuing with his work, "You can call me Raja. If you're thinking about 'reporting me to the authorities' because they won't be able to track me down. You will, however, be seeing me again. This is only the beginning. If you live through this procedure-"

At this he picks up a yellow stone, and shoves it into the girl's stomach. Bet closes her eyes tightly against the screams. The agonized cries faded away, and Bet opened her eyes again to investigate, and saw her best friend slumped over, unconscious, "What'd you do to her!" Bet twisted her head at Copper's cry. The brunette had worked the gag out of her mouth, and was staring accusingly at Raja.

Leaning over Nikki's body, Raja checked her pulse. Sighing heavily, he unchained her, and shoved her body off the table to the floor, "Well that didn't last long." He looks up at Copper mischievously, "For that little outburst, you're next."

Bet closed her eyes, huddling against the wall as her best friend was transferred from the wall to the table. Grunts of pain were heard as Raja began his work. 

Bet waited for the whimpers to stop, as tears streaked silently down her face. A loud pop was heard, and minutes later, she heard a cackling laugh.

Bet looked up, to see Raja standing before her with a knife. He quirked an eyebrow, "Well no sense in keeping the extra."

A gasp was heard as the knife slid easily into the girl's stomach as her bright blue eyes glazed over.

Copper lay panting, bloody tattoos splayed across her stomach and wrists. (Editor's Note: Wow, this is heavy crap. But anyways, I'm going to try to put pictures of the tattoos in the result. And I'm pretty sure I'm spelling tattoos wrong...)_ Raja stood over her._

"You see, soon Tempest will take over your body. Bit by bit. Your eyes will be the only physical sign. As the day grows closer to Tempest coming, your eyes will get lighter and lighter, until they are yellow."

Copper caught her breath, "Over my dead body. This Tempest chick can go to hell." 

Raja laughed coldly, "You see, Copper Elise Mendel, you **will** be the catalyst. Or else your pretty little family... and everyone else in this town, **will** be suffering the consequences. And as for Tempest going to hell, hun, she's **already there**."

He straightened up, "Now. Tempest has had me check up on you. And while she had her eye on you awhile back, you have one slight catch. You're too pure. So, we're sending you to a friend of ours to train. These... abilities that you will discover you have, are only partially yours. Since you are the catalyst, you will always wield a fraction of the power Tempest has, including the ones you may have already had."

"Powers?" 

"You want to know why that redheaded friend of yours didn't make it when you did? You have a high potential. You must have already had spirit energy awareness."

"But as it is. In order to become suitable, you will kill."

Reaper sat in the kitchen of a white house. A brunette woman was bustling around, as Sagome sat across from Reaper.  
"So what are we doing in the Minamino house?"

Reaper sat back and stretched, "There's a hit out on her. You know that I'd get blamed for anything anyways. So, I fen off the demons, freak foxboy out by being at his house with his mother while he's out tracking down bad guys, and get Mads to think it's all her fault, and knock out three birds with one stone."  
"I thought that the expression was two birds."  
"Well, in my case there's three."  
"Uhuh. So, that'd be getting Mads off your case, letting demons know that the Minamino woman is off limits." 

Mrs. Minamino stood by the table, "Oh, don't worry dears. Shuichi should be home any minute..." She hurries away to a different room.

"You forgot one."  
"I can't think of a third one."  
"It really pisses off Foxboy."  
"Why do you insist upon doing that, Copper?"   
Reaper narrows her eyes behind the shades, "Don't call me that, Drake."  
"So you knew who I was all this time."   
"I wouldn't have saved your ass if I didn't."

"You never told me what happened."

The room is filled with silence as the woman bustles back in, and then back out.

A demon burst through the kitchen door, brandishing a dagger. Reaper looked up, and absentmindedly threw a scythe, catching the assassin in the throat. A portal appears beneath the demon, and the body is gone.

"Well, there goes another one of my weapons. At this rate, I'm going to have to visit Kisho at the end of the week." 

Sagome stood as another demon came in, and sliced the demon's throat. Another portal appeared, "Now's not the time to be talking about your favorite weapons maker, Reaper."

Reaper pouted, the closest thing she had come to acting like the person she once was, "But you don't know how many people I had to kill to find him..."

Sagome sat on the end of the table, "That's what got you so far deep in this problem, isn't it, Copper?" 

Another demon popped in, and a dagger stopped it short as it disappeared into the awaiting portal, "I don't know why they keep sending such low-level demons when they could have a possible run-in with Kurama."

Sagome rolled his eyes at her dodging of his comment, "None of the upper-levels want to get into a throw down with the spirit detectives and their allies. Where are you sending these anyways?"

Reaper smirked coldly, "Foxboy's room."

Sagome snatched the sunglasses from Reaper's face, examining her eyes, "They're getting lighter you know."  
Reaper's smirk faded, and the cold look many of the demons in Spirit World associated with her appeared upon her face, "They are."  
"You know, Koenma may be able to--"  
"**No**."

Sagome tilted his head, as the sound of the front door opening was heard, "She's changed you. You never were this cold."  
As he disappears through a portal, Reaper answers coldly, "Sometimes it's just better to be numb..."

"Hello mother." Reaper holds back her smirk of anticipation, as Kurama's voice filters through to the kitchen. Mrs. Minimanino's voice follows after, "Oh, Shuichi. One of your friends is waiting for you in the kitchen."

Reaper suppresses her spirit energy, as she feels Kurama sweep the room with his own.

Reaper's smirk widens, as she sees Kurama's furious expression as he walks into the room.

Spinning in her chair, Reaper grins, "Your mother's very hospitable, _Shuichi_." 

Kurama clenches his fists, "Stay away from her, Reaper." 

Reaper stands up, tilting her head, "Oh, I don't see why. She's very nice."  
Kurama lunges and Reaper sink through a portal in the floor.

Kurama climbed the stairs to his room, opening the door, and sighing.

He closes the door behind him, and notices the pile of dead demons on his bed, "Reaper."

"You called, Foxboy?" 

Kurama whipped around, to see Reaper climbing down off of his desk.  
Kurama's green eyes narrowed "Get out of my house." 

Reaper's eyes narrowed as well, as a portal appeared, disposing of the deceased assassins. Her smirk disappeared as she stood nose to nose, looking up at Kurama, "You see, I don't think I can do that."

Kurama glared back, "Why are you wearing sunglasses?"

Reaper frowned, "Tell Mads that if she doesn't stop poking in where she doesn't belong by the end of the week, that hit out on your families, won't be the main thing on Koenma's to do list anymore."

Kurama stepped forward, smirking (Editor's Note: Heheh... Kurama smirking...), "You won't be going through with that threat, Copper."

Reaper lunged forward, tackling Kurama, punching him as she sat on top of him on the bed, "Don't you **ever** call me that." 

Kurama grabbed her wrists, rolling over, and pinning her beneath him, "I could always just arrest you."  
Reaper's eyes narrowed, "Oh, like Koenma hasn't tried that before. You're losing your touch kitsune."

Reaper struggled to break free from Kurama's grip, and sends a ball of lightning whizzing past his face, grazing his cheek.

Kurama's red hair flickers to silver. Reaper's shaded eyes meet with golden ones, as she's pressed further into the mattress, "Youko."  
"You called?" The kitsune mocked. Glaring, Reaper struggled more fervently, "No. But doesn't matter which one of you I beat the shit out of, now does it?"

Youko rolled his eyes and sighed exasperatedly, "Ah, humans are so blind."

Reaper lets out a cry of protest, as Youko violently presses his lips to her own.

Reaper's mind becomes fuzzy, as a haze of lightning rushes through her, and into Kurama, who had changed back. Kurama was thrown from her, as Reaper lies staring up at the ceiling, panting. 

Kurama groans, and gets up, "Damn that Youko..."   
Looking over, Reaper still has not moved. Rushing to the bed, Kurama grabs the sunglasses, removing them.

Reaper's bright yellow eyes are glazed over.


	5. Chapter 5

_Renata sat in the cold, dark auditorium, fiddling with her ring. The play itself was mediocre, but she had to admit that the acting was brilliant. If she was up there she probably would have fallen asleep by then._

A girl at the young age of sixteen and three-quarters, she was a dedicated Drama student. While her parents would never let her base a career on it, she played out her hobby to whatever extent her teachers asked her to go. With lightly tanned, freckled, and unblemished skin, make-up was never too much of a problem, no matter how long she left it on. Her black hair lightened to an auburn glow by the sun was cropped short an inch or so below her ears.

Her fellow students had learned to judge her outlook that morning by whether she had taken the time to blow dry her hair straight, or just let it air dry in a mess of sultry curls. On days she was busy, the curls could be seen pinned back, as far out of her face as Ren could get them. When she was stressed, the curls stayed down, unmoussed and limp. When she was happy, but pushed for time, the curls shined and bounced around her round face, and when she had a little extra time, and more gumption, she would run her fingers through straight hair, pushing it back as she contemplated the obstacles of the day.

Today her amber eyes that usually sparkled with a mysterious playfulness looked cold and calculating.

Renata Gwen McLairn was a critical person. And the other drama students both respected and avoided her for that. It had been said that she had had best friends at her school before she moved... But here she only had good friends... ones that were quick to stand up and defend her, ones that trusted her, and yet, no one there could have the right to stand up and say that they completely knew Ren.

Of course, none of them would figure it out. At least... not any time in the near future... 

Reaper stood in Koenma's office, alone with the future ruler of Spirit World.

"I told you to come to me if it ever got this far."

Reaper's cold light green eyes gazed back disdainfully at him, "So you could kill me? That is your only way of stopping her isn't it?"  
Koenma stood up, "Had I been given any notice, or request, I'd find a way." 

Reaper smirked, "Now, now, we both know that isn't true."

"So what truly happened in the Minamino house? We both know Tempest would never come out this early." 

Reaper's eyes narrowed as she remained silent _that was only a warning... I have to be more careful. _  
"Nothing." 

Koenma sighed, lowering his head, "Very well. You may go now."

_Meanwhile..._

"So Reaper used to be normal, huh?" Yusuke asked quietly. Mads had just shared the whole of what she had learned with the group.

A door closed. They looked up to see Grimm standing quietly against it, "That's not what happened."

The young neko draws sharp looks from everyone in the room.

"I don't know exactly how it happened. But I know someone who does."

Sagome looks up from his position on the mantle (God only knows why he's up there, he has a weird heights fetish) glancing around quickly, and then back down.

Mads stands up, and walks over to him, "Okay. You know something we don't. Spill."

Sagome shrugs.

A katana whizzes through the air, landing in the wall next to Sagome's head. He looks up to see Hiei glaring at him, "She asked you a question, bakka."

Grimm moved forward, her eyes locked on Sagome's, "It's okay... I think they need to know." 

Yusuke's voice breaks through the sudden silence.  
"When Kurama brought Reaper here, and he said that her eyes had changed... Koenma gave me a new mission." He looked up, his brown eyes burning into the psychic's green ones, "But I won't kill her until I know why."

Silence reigned as Sagome shifted uncomfortably on his perch.

"It all began on that day we were filming outside. Copper, Bet, and Nikki were playing with the camera, and these demons came out of the forest, and knocked out me and Dan.

"We didn't see what happened to the girls, and I don't know what really happened out there, but Copper is the only one that made it back. That puppet master guy, he told me that she was the only one strong enough to act as the Catalyst.

"First, you need to know that there was once a demon so powerful that it ascended as a dragon, and laid forth destruction on Demon World. When the demon made her way to Spirit World, Koenma's grandmother, Preenma, made the ultimate sacrifice to destroy the demon. The demon's power was so great, however, that she could not be fully obliterated, only sealed away in the form of three jewels. In one jewel, her ability to manipulate lightning and move with swift agility. In the second, her ability to control the winds and the ability to intrude on other's thoughts to an extent. In the final, and biggest jewel, the demon's very soul was sealed away.

"This demon's name was Tempest.

"Earlier, you assumed that this army the Puppet Master was building up was for Hael.

"But even the Earth itself would tremble at the rise of the Tempest." 

Taking a deep breath, he looks at the others as they sat, spellbound by his words, before continuing "The Puppet Master and his minions had once ruled beneath Tempest, and searched the worlds to find the hidden stones. Upon success, a worthy Catalyst had to be found. There's an estimation of about 356 young girls, human and demon alike, which were sacrificed in their search.

"Raja had said that the vision of the three girls had come to him as he sat guarding the stones, and when tested, Copper was the only one who withstood the shock of sharing a body with another, much more powerful being.  
"Believe it or not, Copper had been too pure for Tempest to ever gather strength through her. By threatening the lives of her family and town, she was forced to train and kill. With each soul that moved on by her hand, her hair grew darker, and her eyes grew lighter.

"Her parents had begun to suspect something was wrong. Because she refused to originally give in to the threats, her younger brother was killed in front of her and her parents, and after seeing what she had, or perhaps more of what they thought she had become, her parents disowned her. After the incident in the woods, Dan never went near her. After that, I guess she just learned to be lonely, rather than risk someone else." 

Unbeknownst to the others, one of their number had gone suddenly. And the subject of their fascination was quickly approaching...

Reaper walked down the hallway briskly, fighting down the wave of dizziness that threatened to overcome her. She was getting weaker by the day, and the knowledge of it made her sick. Tempest was drawing more and more power out of her, and it would only be so long before she was ready.

Smirking grimly, Reaper's thoughts whispered with a bitter sort of smugness. _ It's all on Drake's shoulders when that happens._

Reaper halted, as Kurama stepped from around the corner, his cold voice breaking the air of threatening silence she had accumulated around herself, "You really think he'd go through with that?" 

Yellow-green eyes narrowed, "He will."  
"You had a brother," Kurama stated, matter-of-factly.  
Her face settling into its mask of cold indifference, she answered with a frozen tone, "Yes."

Eyes locked, sound died away. Looking away, Reaper started to walk on.

Kurama grabbed her wrist, "He loves you."  
Looking down at his hand holding her rooted to the spot, her voice came out in a whisper, "I know."

Pulling her closer, Kurama's eyes searched the assassin's. "You don't feel the same?"

Reaper's eyes glowed, and flickered to a shade of brown, and then back to green, "I did, once."

The kitsune's arms were now wrapped around her and neither moved to pull away as they stood watching one another.

Reaper's eyes grew darker, and then a wave of shock ran through her, leaving her weak in the knees. Her voice came out choked, betraying more emotion in that moment than she had in two and a half years, "I've lost everything... And she won't stop until there's nothing left for me to hold on to." 

Kurama grasped her tightly, "You can't make me go because of something she might do."

Tears spring to her amber eyes, "Why can't you just hate me?"  
"I did."   
**_"Nothing's changed!"_**

Kurama's eyes stared into Copper's, "I hated who you wanted us to believe you were."

"Things can't change this suddenly."   
"They have before."

Copper's lower lip trembled, her eyes flashing green, "No."

Closing her eyes, Reaper leaned forward, and kissed him gently, tears spilling down her cheeks. Kurama's emerald eyes widened in shock before drifting closed.

A small pop was heard as a sliver of electricity flowed from Reaper's hand, into Kurama's temple. She steps back as the boy slides to the floor, unconscious. Smiling bitterly, she bends down, and whispers softly in his ear,

"I hated you because there were times I thought that you could have been my everything... If everything hadn't torn us apart."


	6. Chapter 6

Inside the living room, Mads turns to Hiei, "Hiei, why does Reaper hate Kurama?" 

Hiei shrugs, and another voice answers, "That's dangerous ground, elemental."

Turning, Mads sees Genkai sitting on the couch, "Then you know?"

Nodding Genkai replies "And why he hates her in turn."  
"Well would you care to enlighten the rest of us, old hag?" Yusuke says, exasperated.

Genkai begins in a raspy voice, "It all started when she was first brought to me to train...

_At the beginning of her 'career', Reaper was accredited for many deaths she had no part in because she was in training. During her training, no one from Tempest's followers could approach her, at Genkai's orders._

Back then she went by the name of Raven, a trend that didn't last long. She had no friends, always fearing that they would defy her sensei.

Walking back from the cliff that Genkai had had her training on today, Raven saw movement out of the corner of her eye as a boy around her age fell into step beside her.

She kept walking, subtly evaluating him. She knew him from the forest, running past there Raven had seen him with three other boys. His long red hair, green eyes, and tall stature had set him off from the rest right away.

A gust of wind sent the scent of roses greeting her nose.  
"You're Genkai's new student, are you not?" 

Glancing over, Raven nodded silently in answer to the boy's question.

Turning backwards, and halting, he held out his hand, "I am Kurama."

Staring down at Kurama's palm, Raven shakes her head, "I'm busy."

She continued walking, eyes narrowing as the boy easily caught up, "That's okay. I'll walk you."

"From that day, he made it a point to meet her coming from her training everyday and walk her back."

Grimm interrupted, "Wait, Reaper didn't threaten him, or anything?"

Smiling reminiscently, Genkai continued, "Oh, at first she tried to drive him off. But in the end he had managed to break through."

_Before, Raven had always had plenty of friends, and loneliness was the furthest thing from her. But now, alone was her reality, and when the boy, Kurama, had offered her a friendship, she was too tempted to say no._

But her reputation as an assassin had been built, though she was in no way the person carrying out the deeds. Tempest's men had found her penchant for scythes, and mimicked her fighting style as a way to accomplish the killings, earning her the nickname of Reaper.

Weeks had gone by since Raven had last spoken with Kurama, and his visits were becoming less and less frequent.

In truth, had anyone else been looking on as the two met in the past months, they would have been able to see how the friendship had already rapidly evolved into something more.

Kurama's light flushes at the sound of his companion's laughter gave his inner thoughts away to all but Raven, whose laughter was in itself a rare event, only brought on by his presence.

If anything, there was no one really closer to the young assassin, and she in turn, to him.

But a shadow would soon have fallen over the young pair, had either truly known the parts of the other kept in shadows. Kurama, as a spirit detective, was kept away for days time, his thoughts often occupied by the threat of a new demon, this killer known as Reaper. And as for Raven, her eyes would often cloud as she thought of what was being done in her name, and of the things she had begun to carry out, and of the sudden awareness of her presence from the authorities of Spirit World.

Raven was once again following the familiar path to Genkai's, secretly hoping that her friend would be waiting for her. A shadow of a person leaning against a tree fell over the mossy ground, causing her head to jerk up. Raven's brown eyes, now streaked with green, widened in alarm as Raja grinned lazily down at her.

Drawing in a sharp breath, Raven stepped back on the path. As Raja pushed off from the tree, another shadow leaped down from the branches, cutting the Puppet Master off from the girl.

Raven's hand twitched as she suppressed the urge to reach for her signature scyth, knowing that its very presence could make her one friend aware of what she truly was. Kurama's glare stopped Raja in his tracks.

Thoughts spinning, Raven tried thinking of a way to get Kurama away safely. Raja, however, had no intention of hurting him... Physically, that is.

"Ahh, one of the infamous Spirit detectives." Raja's lazy smirk widened at Raven's gasp.

Knowing full well many demons' adherence to the title, Kurama's head turned, as he saw his friend twist away, her face twisted with an unintelligible emotion.

**A spirit detective! How could he not have known? He couldn't... Oh, but my little Catalyst, do you really think that someone like HIM would truly have a genuine interest in someone like YOU?**

Raven's face settled into a cold mask, one that would in the future grace her features more than not. Turning completely, Kurama made a move to grab her as she stepped back rapidly.

But Raja was far from done, "Ah, but little Cat, there's no need to play with the mouse any longer. He's been distracted long enough." 

A flash of horror flitted in her eyes, as Kurama's face contorted with confusion.

The spirit detective glanced down at the sheathed scythe on which Raven's hand was resting, and realization and betrayal dawned on his face.

Kurama's voice came out as barely more than a whisper, "Reaper?"

The malicious smile distracted him from the pain in her eyes, as she leapt up, and darted through the trees out of sight, Raja's cold laughter ringing out through the night behind her.

"Wow."   
Mads fists were clenched, as she stared down at the floor. The others look at her, as she thrusts her chin up, and they see the tears threatening to slide down her cheeks, "You--You're telling us that they were in love, and Raja deceived them so they would believe that the other played them for a fool?"  
Mads's chin thrust out stubbornly, and she pumped her fist into the air, "With everyone in the room as my witness, I WILL HELP THEM DISCOVER THEIR LOVE AGAIN!"

A loud thump was heard over Grimm's "Yeah!"

The group turned to find Kuwabara twitching on the floor, "Mads... playing matchmaker to _Reaper_?" 

Reaper had gotten as far as outside before her eyes had regained their green sheen. Se had let the kitsune trick her once before, and despite herself, she had almost let him do it again.

A slow smirk played across her face as she remembered the ending to the scene in the hallway. This time, _she_ had gotten the last laugh.

A frown flitted across her features. Laugh. The last time she had laughed, and meant it, was with him...

Shaking her head furiously to clear the thought, she ran into someone. 

Kurama grabbed her around the waist, "That would be the second time you've given me the slip, Raven."

Cursing mentally, Reaper tried to step back, "That's not my name, kitsune."

A cold glint appeared in his eyes, "Ah, yes. That was a lie too. Just like the time we spent--"  
"That wasn't my lie, _detective_. Do **you** honestly expect **me** to believe you were genuinely interested in the solitary student?" 

His green eyes narrowed, "Never once in that time do I lie to you."

A flicker of doubt flashed in Reaper's eyes even as she spoke, "Oh, and you were completely honest for half a year?"  
"If I recall correctly, _Reaper_, you were the one using me."  
Her laughter rang out, completely devoid of warmth, "Oh how wrong you are. You honestly think that that low level imbecile was being honest?"

His eyes narrowed, "You seem to."

The malicious smirk slid off Reaper's face. She remembered that half year so vividly. 

Kurama's eyes searched hers, as they grew to an amber color, "Your eyes are changing brown."  
Her voice shaking, she pulled a step away, "They won't stay that way for long, Kurama." 

She walked past him, halting as he turned and wrapped his arms around her waist (gosh, Kurama's been getting awful frisky lately... sees angry readers glaring... Ah..hah..ha..hah? Okay... tough crowd).

"Raven-Chan..." He whispered the old nickname as he nuzzled her neck, "I waited for you for hours that day. I was there everyday, to watch you home."

Raven leaned back, into his arms, "I waited for you in that spot everyday for hours, and you never showed."

She felt him smile just below her ear, "Genkai didn't want me distracting you from training."

Turning, Raven looked up at him, smiling, "You were too quiet to be a distraction." 

Leaning down, Kurama whispered softly as their noses touched, "You were always such a distraction for me."

And she laughed.

Pulling her closely, Kurama's lips met with Raven's, as they others stood watching from the upstairs window. 

Yusuke smirked, "So much for you playing Cupid, huh Mads?"

The others laughed, not noticing as Tier's hands slowly clenched into fists as he glowered down at the young pair.


	7. Chapter 7

The group stared out the window.  
"Hmm... I always got the impression she had a thing for Hiei."

The group turns and stares at Botan. Tier shakes his head, "No."

Grimm looked at him, "I got the same vibe."

"Well she wasn't."

Grimm raised her eyebrows, "Well then, what was it, Sagome?" 

Tier's icy blue eyes stared out at the girl he once called his own in another man's arms, "She wanted someone who wouldn't hesitate when she needed it the most."

Mads tilted her head, "How do you mean?"

"I mean that Reaper is trying to gather back-up for when Tempest hits. Hiei and Kurama aren't the only ones she's trying for."

Staring out the window, Yusuke's voice breaks through the stunned silence, "So are you telling us that she could be using him?"

"She wouldn't do that."

This time it's Grimm who's put under the group's scrutiny. Tier glares, "What makes you so certain?"

Stepping forward, Grimm's eyes narrow, as she points her finger accusingly at Tier, "You may have known her longer, but _obviously_ you don't **know** her. Reaper doesn't manipulate people like that. She hates manipulating people's emotions. I'm guessing she was like that before this Tempest thing ever happened."

The pair stood there, silent. Kurama's face was buried in the crook of her neck as they stared out at the forest.

Reaper's eyes began regaining their green-yellow sheen, as the cold breeze blew.

"Koenma could-"  
"No, he couldn't."  
"You don't even know--"  
"Yes, I do."  
"I hate it--"   
"When I do that."  
"Stop it."

Reaper turned, staring up at the darkening sky, "It's snowing."   
Kurama looked up as well, watching as the fluffy white snowflakes began drifting down heavily, "Yes, it is."

A flash of lightning streaked through the sky as they watched.

Turning back to the forest suddenly, Reaper began to walk away.  
Kurama followed, grabbing her wrist, "Why are you still leaving?" 

Reaper looked back, her eyes focusing on his shoulder, "There's at least two days. Tell Sagome that. I have some things to do. I'll be back by noon tomorrow."

Kurama's eyes narrowed, "What _things_?"  
Reaper shrugged, "Things. That people do before the second apocalypse to hit in a two week span."

"It's snowing," Mads commented.  
"Wow. You're a quick one," Yusuke retorted.

"HEY! AT LEAST I PASS MY CLASSES!"   
"Barely."  
"I'M GONNA KILL YOU URAMESHI!" 

The other looked on, bemused, as Mads chased Yusuke around the room, dodging low-level spirit bullets, while throwing low-level fireballs.

Grimm turned back toward Tier, "Sagome?" 

Tier looked at her, wondering how long it would take the others to find that Sagome would be gone for awhile, "Hm." 

"If you _do_ know Reaper as well as you claim, why the hell would you say that?"

Tier stared out at the snow, silent.  
"Only cowards use silence as their refuge when their actions are called into question."

"Reaper has remained silent on occasions such as this."  
"She's had her reasons."  
"And what makes you believe that I don't have mine?"

Stuck at a stalemate, Grimm's glare was reflected by Tier.

_Reaper looked down at Hiei's sleeping form. The sleeping draught she had slipped into the sodas the fire demon, kitsune, and elemental had been downing would keep the others sound asleep, without any of the telltale side effects._

**At least the kitsune's penchant for making potions and such comes in handy. He'll never even notice that bottle in his room has gone...**

Reaper stepped out of the Yellowstone Lodge. Her eyes were a dark emerald green, as she glanced around to make sure that the elemental they had come to find hadn't sensed anything and come running.

Reaper knew she had felt his presence there, and she didn't need anyone running interference when they got the girl back to Koenma. She needed that potion, it was the last resort.

Darting through the forest, Reaper appeared as a dark green blur, dressed in an emerald hoodie, and dark jeans.

She suddenly came to a halt at the entrance of a cave.  
Reaper walked in, "You have a sick sense of irony, Raja."

The Puppet Master stepped out from the shadows, thick bandages wrapped around his stomach, "Yeah, well. It passes the time."

Reaper's green eyes looked him over as she leaned against the wall, "You really pulled a number on the girl. They all think you're dead. So what'd you use this time? Follower in your stead, replace yourself with a puppet at the last minute; I don't think you have that bandage because it looks cool." 

Raja smirked suggestively at the assassin, lifting up the bottom of his shirt, "You think it's cool, huh?"

Reaper raised an eyebrow, "I think it's sufficient enough to cripple you so I make sure that you **do** die this time."

Raja stepped forward, "Tut tut, mouse, you shouldn't talk to the one you love like that."

Reaper scoffed, "Love? What a useless word. Almost as useless as you are."

"You weren't saying that last month."  
"You weren't exacerbating Editor's Note: You can thank the advanced broadcasting class at my school for that word me last month.

Raja stepped forward, "Oh, and what fun we had last month."

A dagger nicked his ear, "You'd do well watching how you talk to me."

Raja leaped forward, burying his fist in her stomach, causing her to bend over and gasp in pain, "You'd do well remembering your place. Especially when talking to the one that has the ability to grant you more pain past even your capabilities, and keep you alive still."

Coughing, blood trickled out of the side of her mouth as Reaper glared up at him, "Bastard." 

Grinding his fist into her midsection, Raja's mocking voice echoed through the dimly lit cave, "Choose your lovers more wisely, mouse, I don't like being pushed aside. And what you're planning doesn't interest Tempest. What you're after isn't strong enough to stop her. **I'm** here, however, to make sure that you don't get any ideas with that damned kitsune around again." 

Reaper remained silent as she felt her rib underneath his fist begin cracking.

Raja continued, "But you've learned your lesson before. Haven't you?"

He stepped back, letting his fist fall to his side, turning to leave. Reaper began to stand upright again.

Turning back, Raja grabbed the girl, shoving her into the wall of the cave as he kissed her harshly. 

Letting go, he tapped a finger against her forehead, "Remember, mouse, I can find you wherever, whenever." He turned away, as a portal appeared before him. He glanced back one last time, "Spirit detectives are only good for one thing- to achieve your ends. Remember that."

Well after Raja had disappeared to whatever God-forsaken place he was headed, Reaper staggered out of the cave, holding her side. It would heal rapidly, as per Tempest's abilities that Reaper had unabridged access to, but it would still cause her some problems on the morrow.

Leaping through the trees back towards the lounge, the assassin's green eyes narrowed as she thought on the puppet master's words.

**He's right on one thing. Spirit detectives are only useful when one manipulates them properly. They can't be trusted further than one could throw them at twenty times the Earth's natural gravity. The only thing they responded to was something or someone, they cared about, and they always hurt the things, or ones, aforementioned. **   



	8. Chapter 8

It has been a week, much to the surprise to everyone, especially when the gang and company (company being Grimm, Genkai, and Sagome) got their first word from Reaper, telling them to meet her at Mads's on...well, the day of today.

And so there they sat, waiting. And waiting. 

Kuwabara's stomach growled and he reached for another sandwich off of a tray placed in the center table, "Is she _ever_ going to get here?"

They had been waiting for about an hour, in the central room, with all the doors closed, and no windows- they assumed Reaper would drop in the usual way, by literally dropping in through a portal, and Mads hadn't wanted to take the chance of any passersby seeing her.

Kurama's head rested on the back of the couch, "She'll get here when she gets here." 

Even his usually bottomless patience had run thin.

Grimm stood up as a portal appeared above them, and a small figure dropped through.

A really, _really_ small figure.

Mads started laughing, "Oh holy skittles, is that a...ha...a **LEPRECHAUN**?"

Even Hiei's eyebrows rose as the small... ahem "height challenged" man stomped his foot, "I AM NOT A LEPRECHAUN! DO YOU SEE ANY FRIGGING SHOES AROUND ME? OR A RAINBOW?" Now he addressed Yusuke, "DO YA FRUITY? HUH? HUH?"

Grimm's whip sprang forth, looping gently around the wee character's waist, and pulling him out of Yusuke's face, before the infinitely taller boy hit him, "Whoa, cool it, hothead."

The small dude (man, it's getting harder and harder to find different synonyms for short) took a deep breath, and then smiled brightly (Bipolar, anyone?), "I have the pleasure to inform you that you have been outwitted by the short demons of the youkai world united, and you have two hours left before a poisonous gas begins leaking into the room."

Crickets could practically be heard. Until Mads burst out laughing, "Since when is there a Short Demons of the Youkai World United? Whaddaya call it? Midgets R Us?"

As the group rolled around on the floor laughing hysterically, the elf man sighed and stomped his foot.

An Hour Later

Yusuke stood, shooting Spirit bullets at the different doors, as the others sat in circles. Mads shook her head, "He was actually serious..." 

Grimm narrowed her eyes at Sagome, "Yeah, and we would have at least found out _why_, if Sagome hadn't gone and set the midget on fire for **looking at him funny**!"

Mads shook her head again, looking around at the others, "I'm an elemental, with a fire demon, a kitsune, a half demon, one of the greatest ki teachers EVER, a stupid human idiot, a neko, and a... whatever the hell Sagome is, and NONE of us can figure out HOW to get out of a simple ROOM? **I JUST SAVED THE WORLD FROM A FREAKING APOCALYPSE, AND MIDGETS ARE THE ONES WHO GET THE BEST OF ME!**" 

Sagome grinned, "Well, in all fairness, no one really has any control over their height, and besides, it's not like size determines how smart you are."

Mads stood up, steam practically coming out of her ears, "DO NOT QUESTION ME YOU SON OF A RANK BABOON WHORE!"

Kurama's soft voice stops Yusuke as he readies himself to shot again, and freezes Mads and Sagome in mid-chase, "It doesn't matter. We have more important matters at hand. The Tempest is coming, and we still have no idea how long we have, or just were Reaper is."

Silence fills the room, as all movement ceases. He was right- Not only was their time running short, but so was the time of the three worlds'.


	9. Chapter 9

The group sat grimly staring at the walls of their confines.  
Another portal appeared over their heads, and to their relief, a tall, lithe shadow landed nimbly, rolling to a stop and leaping to its feet.

Mads scowled, "Do you always have to make such an entrance?" 

Reaper's scowl was a familiar one as she stood glaring down at the young elemental, "Get through the damn portal." 

Mads stood up, following the others as they stepped through a remarkably convenient portal on the side wall, "Oh, gee, no hug?"

The last of the originals to go through was Kurama, a serene half-smile on his face as he glanced back at the assassiness, "You're late."

Reaper's reply was sharp, "You're slow. Move."

Mads stepped through, into a familiar, albeit different, scene.

"Raja!" 

His purple hair shifted in front of his eye as he stood, "Ah. Mads, my sweet. No hug?"

Mads was propelled forward, into the prone body of Genkai-sensei. Grimm lay sprawled against the far wall, trying to untangle herself and an irate Tier from her whip. Yusuke and Kuwabara stood to her left. Turning slightly to better evaluate the situation in which the little elemental had found herself in, she found Hiei glaring intently at the puppet master.

Kurama came through next, and after looking around, placed himself carefully next to Hiei. 

Hearing one last pair of footsteps, and the portal close, Mads opened her mouth.  
Only to be cut short by Reaper, "Raja. What the hell--?"  
"It's time, little cat, that you finally finish playing mouse."

Finding his voice, Kurama spoke up, "Are you instigating that this is just another of your two's little games?"

Stepping up next to the kitsune, Reaper spared only a glance into his questioning green eyes, "Only in his head."

Hiei slowly drew his katana, Kuwabara's spirit sword following suit, "Then what, onna, is this?" 

At that moment, six things happened, Reaper's forehead split with white hot pain, and she cried out; as Kurama stepped forward to help her, the distance between every individual seeming to grow, Raja leapt forward, and threw him back, taunting him, "You think your little bird has been faithful? Tell me, kitsune, do you know how warm her skin can be?"   
Kurama's cry of dismay sent his loyal friend, Hiei, launching forward, only to be restrained by Yusuke; simultaneously, Grimm wrenched herself free, only to be yanked back by a somber Kuwabara. Seeing instantly the encumberments of the others, not bothering to wonder about the reason behind the sudden turn of events, Mads dodged past the wrestling youkai and detective, only to trip by the old sensei's grip on the former student's ankle.

Reaper cried out again, her body rising into the air, and her wrists pulled back by an unseen force. Kurama's whip lashed out repeatedly at the taunting demon, aware of his love's pain, yet unable to act.   
Kurama's grunt of frustration went unheard as Hiei struggled with Yusuke for control. Skimming the young man's mind, the Jagan could find no traces of Raja's influence.

Mads twisted around, kicking at the hand of her old teacher frantically, her exhale of panic drowned out by the furious cry of the young neko pinned in the corner by Kazuma.

Perhaps they were all so preoccupied in their own private struggles that they _could not_ notice Tier's movements until the last minute.  
Until it was already too late. 

The dagger in Tier's hand glinted in the dim light. Dismay closed around Kurama, and fear clutched the two women each struggling with their captors.

Her eyes locked with her only love's, Reaper's crimson lips curled up in a small, bittersweet smile. In that brief, fleeting moment, she allowed herself for the first time in years, to wonder...  
_What if...  
A little girl with shining copper curls and tears running down her cheeks looked up at her mother, "Mommy? Why do people do bad things and hurt each other?"  
Somewhere, a little boy with brown hair and haunted green eyes looked up at the sky, and spoke quietly, "Daddy, what if everyone loved, and nobody lied?"  
If everyone cared and nobody cried  
If everyone loved and nobody lied  
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride  
A tear slid down a young students cheek, as she sat softly stroking the sheathed scythe at her side, thinking over the events of the night, of the friend she had never really had, and yet in a sense still lost.  
A young assassin with ebony locks of hair pushed behind one ear looked out into the night, thinking about the young man in the next room...  
What if he could be my everything?_

Her vibrantly yellow eyes still locked onto emerald green ones spilled over, as her best friend from too many lifetimes ago tore into her abdomen with the bright dagger- her happy dagger.

Crystal spheres of water tumbled down her cheeks as her eyes grew glossy, her lips frozen in a bittersweet smile of good-bye, the last realization running through her head as a large yellow crystal was wrenched from her body with a sickening suction-  
_He already **was** her everything._

_From underneath the trees, we watch the sky  
Confusing stars for satellites  
I never dreamed that you'd be mine  
But here we are, we're here tonight_

_Singing Amen, I, I'm alive  
Singing Amen, I, I'm alive_

_If everyone cared and nobody cried  
If everyone loved and nobody lied  
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride  
Then we'd see the day when nobody died_

_And I'm singing_

_Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive  
Amen I, Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive_

_And in the air the fireflies  
Our only light in paradise  
We'll show the world they were wrong  
And teach them all to sing along_

_Singing Amen, I, I'm alive  
Singing Amen, I, I'm alive  
(I'm alive)_

_If everyone cared and nobody cried  
If everyone loved and nobody lied  
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride  
Then we'd see the day when nobody died_

_And as we lie beneath the stars  
We realize how small we are  
If they could love like you and me  
Imagine what the world could be_

_If everyone cared and nobody cried  
If everyone loved and nobody lied  
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride  
Then we'd see the day when nobody died  
When nobody died..._

_We'd see the day, we'd see the day  
When nobody died  
We'd see the day, we'd see the day  
When nobody died  
We'd see the day when nobody died_

_She may have been a killer... But that doesn't mean no one cried, on the day she died._


End file.
